Rick Proctor gives hard data about electric vehicle performance and efficiency in two major races.

64 Relaunching the Esther

Richard Orawiec and LeRoy Wolins tell of their adventures restoring the good ship Esther (1896) back to her original electric power. Included are details and historical info on marine electric propulsion.

Home Power (ISSN 1050-2416) is published bi-monthly for $15 per year at P.O. Box 520, Ashland, OR 97520. International surface subscription for $20 U.S. Second class postage paid at Ashland, OR and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address corrections to Home Power, P.O. Box 520, Ashland, OR 97520.

Energy is an essential element of modern life. Ever since the industrial revolution, our energy consumption and dependence has skyrocketed. Budding industrialists clearly saw our future use of energy at the close of the 19th century. These early energy pioneers bought, controlled, and distributed the then known sources of energy — coal, oil, and natural gas. The descendants of these early energy entrepreneurs are our modern energy businesses — electric utilities, oil companies, and natural gas companies.

Energy as a commodity

Energy companies sell us their product. Who among us does not pay an electric bill, or a gas bill, or pay the gas station for fuel for a car? It has been this way since the early days when these companies cornered the then difficult to access, process, and distribute energy sources. Oil, coal, and natural gas are, and always have been, commodities to be bought and sold. And in the business of owning and selling energy, energy companies have been very successful.

In 1963, I first heard that electric power could be made directly from sunlight — photovoltaics. The real implications of the photovoltaic module didn't dawn on me for over twenty years. Here is an energy source that is free to access, already processed, and delivered daily everywhere to everyone. Sunlight is freely offered to us all rather than hidden in holes in the ground which can be owned and controlled. PVs convert sunlight directly into electricity in a single silent step. Contrast this with an oil refinery, coal mine, or natural gas plant.

Photovoltaics are the first widely applicable electric power source which is not a commodity. Solar energy is the first power source that can break the energy companies' monopoly on power. While this revolutionary aspect of solar power remains unrealized by most of us, energy-selling companies were quick to see sunshine's impact on their businesses. Just as the early energy pioneers saw our coming dependence on oil, coal, and gas, modern energy companies see our future dependence on solar energy.

Utilities, both public and private, are now planning on selling solar energy to their ratepayers. The specific scenarios vary from large utility scale solar power plants, to distributed production with PVs on everybody's roof, to utility leasing of PV systems to off-grid homes. In common to all scenarios is that the utility sells us the solar power — we don't own it.

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David Baty

Cody Brewer

Jay Campbell

Sam Coleman

Ben Fiore

Chris Greacen

Lalith Gunaratne

Michael Hackleman

Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze

Stan Krute

Burke O'Neal

Richard Orawiec

Therese Peffer

Karen Perez

Richard Perez

Shari Prange

Rick Proctor

Mick Sagrillo

Bob-O Schultze

Michael Welch

John Wiles

LeRoy Wolins

Let us hope that the sun, even though captured, will be free to the peoples of the world.

Hybrid Cars! Man! Is that a HOT topic right now! There are some good reasons why hybrids are so hot. If you’ve pulled your present car or SUV or truck up next to a gas pumpand inserted the nozzle, you know exactly what I mean! I written this book to give you some basic information on some things<br />you may have been wondering about.